•8:36 AM
Yay! We finally got a great nature walk in yesterday. We arrived at Crownridge at 5pm. We figured we'd just take a short walk and ended up taking the whole outer trail. By the time we realized this, we were on the back side of the trail furthest from the entrance and the sun was just below the horizon. I suppose my friend Marcy and I were talking too much. We got a little nervous and felt that we needed to rush back before dark. We did have some great discoveries though.
We also found plenty of droppings on the trail. We believe most of it was domestic dog and raccoon. I'll spare you the images especially since domestic dog is pretty gross. :-)
I love moss. I'm not an expert on identifying mosses either, but I do know that the old saying that moss grows on the north side of a tree is actually true and it especially applies here. The reason for this is that the north side of the tree gets the least amount of sunlight and therefore stays damp which is what moss needs to reproduce. Check out the trees next time you're on a walk. If you're in a dense forest or well shaded area, it might not be as obvious.
The girls spotted a bird rustling in the leaves just off the trail. At first sight, Taylor believed this bird to be a Robin. I knew that the likelihood of a Robin this far south was slim. So, I took a look. The girls were so excited.
We figured that her mission in the leaves there was to find insects. We paid special attention to the gray head, beak and back with the white speckles and rust sides and white tummy. After identifying these field marks, we discovered that our bird is a Spotted Towhee! Yes! That would be the first of his kind for us. I understand they are pretty common here during the winter, but we're still newbies.
You can learn more about the Spotted Towhee on this website:
On the rush back to the entrance, Taylor stopped and told us to listen. Marcy had heard it too before I did. It was a Great Horned Owl that we heard. We didn't see this beautiful creature, but we knew it's call. Click on this picture to head his sound.
We also found plenty of droppings on the trail. We believe most of it was domestic dog and raccoon. I'll spare you the images especially since domestic dog is pretty gross. :-) Just a couple of other small finds... This curly grass was interesting. I attempted to find information on it to no avail. There are just too many different types of grasses.
I love moss. I'm not an expert on identifying mosses either, but I do know that the old saying that moss grows on the north side of a tree is actually true and it especially applies here. The reason for this is that the north side of the tree gets the least amount of sunlight and therefore stays damp which is what moss needs to reproduce. Check out the trees next time you're on a walk. If you're in a dense forest or well shaded area, it might not be as obvious. Have fun in nature! We can't wait for our next walk.
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